Giant Chocolate Cupcake with Salted Caramel Buttercream & White Chocolate Ganache

This was another cake that I made just for the hell of it and to try. I got my dad to take some pictures for me, so it's much better than the ones I usually just snap with my phone.

See?

Ingredients:
4 Eggs (weigh them in shells)
Equal weight of sugar
Equal weight of butter
Equal weight of flour minus 40g
40g of cocoa powder
1 tsp of ground coffee powder

For Chocolate Shell:
200g of 74% cocoa plain chocolate

For the salted caramel buttercream:
3 tbsp of caramel sauce
125g of room temperature unsalted butter
300g of Icing Sugar
Pinch of maldon sea salt.

For the White Chocolate Ganache:
100ml of double cream
300g of good quality white chocolate

Pre-heat the oven to 170C. Grease a silicon giant cupcake mould.
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix until combined. Sift in the flour, cocoa and coffee a little at a time and mix until just combined. Pour two thirds of the mixture in the cupcake base and the remaining third into the top. Place on a baking sheet and bake for around 25-35 minutes for the top, and 35-45 minutes for the base (it really depends on the size of your eggs and how much batter you have ended up with). It's done when an inserted skewer comes away cleanly. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for around 10 minutes in the cases before turning out.

Wash the base of the mould and dry thoroughly. Melt 100g of the dark chocolate in a bowl over simmering water (do not allow the water to touch the bowl). Paint the inside of the mould with the chocolate using a silicon pastry brush. Hold it up to the light to see any bits you have missed. Put in the fridge until it sets. Then repeat the process again with the other 100g.

Chop the white chocolate very finely and add to a pan with the double cream. Put it over a low heat and allow to melt. Mix with a rubber spatula until smooth. Decant into a bowl, cover and leave for a few hours to thicken.

To make the buttercream, beat the butter, sugar, and caramel sauce together. Add salt to taste.

When the case is set, very carefully peel back to release it from the mould. Place it back into the mould to assemble.

Level the cakes, and trim around 2cm from the sides of the bottom piece of the giant cupcake. Torte the bottom of the cupcake into two layers. Use a rubber spatula to coat the inside of the chocolate case with buttercream. Fill the bottom of the cupcake with buttercream and sandwich together, then pop inside the case. Then put another layer of buttercream on and place the top piece. Give that a light crumb coat of buttercream and then carefully peel back the silicon mould again to release the cake inside the case. Carefully move it a turntable.

When the ganache has reached the consistency of butter it's ready to use. Put in a piping bag and decorate the top of the cupcake however you like. Add any sweets or fondant decorations that you fancy. I made fondant flowers and painted the centres of them with metallic gold food paint.